PJ Rath

Spoilers included: The movie has potential, but ends up falling short. An amazing and original concept, which is what drew me in. And it starts off excellent with a “slow” but very loving Mom and an overbearing Grandmother trying to figure things out...quietly...in a very small town. They are so “small-town” that they are far more worried about what others in town will think rather than any of the potential global implications. It’s cute when Oscar meets a friend in Agata, but the movie starts to fall off the rails when once innocent comment from Agata to her Mom causes Oscar’s Mom to restart the sheltering of Oscar, just after she was starting to embrace Oscar’s independence. It really falls off the rails when he jumps to an older age. I’m not sure that David, who ends up as Oscar’s ‘promoter’ is a bad guy at all. He’s just making a buck and treats Oscar fairly well. It’s never clear what Oscar wants; he wants someone to write a book about him and David gets him that, but for some reason Oscar is not happy with that. He introduces Oscar to lots of people but Oscar is always sullen and not having fun. Oscar leaves him hanging by quitting on him, which costs David financially and ruins him professionally. Oscar doesn’t know what he wants and therefore the watcher doesn’t know what to root for, or root against. They constantly mix up superhero’s, referring to Oscar as Batman (who doesn’t fly) and then sometimes as Superman. There’s no clarity in the end either, other than the typical “quiet life” that he ends up leading, with none other than Agatha. It just seems a waste of such a unique concept to lead to that well-overused conclusion that money doesn’t buy happiness, be grateful for what you have, etc. I was hoping for more emotionally with the characters